Village Learning Centers for Isolated communities

We are determined to solve the acute lack of education for rural children, thereby enhancing their lives and eventually, the productivity of the country. Throughout the mountains of Honduras, over a million children are left with no education. The pitiful "free" education stops with sixth grade and secondary education is too costly and rarely available.  Throughout the country,  education is extremely substandard with a lack of schools, books, supplies, and curriculum. Many teachers have only a high school education and frequently all six grades are taught simultaneously in a one or two room school. Due to a lack of schools, unqualified teachers, and fees for enrollment, uniforms, and transportation, etc. at least 51% of rural children do not complete 6th grade. These children lack all hope and motivation for a better future. Without the benefit of a good education, they have no possible escape from their cycle of deplorable poverty and ultimately Honduras is unable to compete in the globalized economy. The UN reports that Honduras has the worst educational system in Central America. We feel compelled to solve the problem of substandard education, eliminate illiteracy, and ultimately improve access to secondary school and the university.

Our solution is to establish "Learning Centers" in isolated rural communities where children ages 5 - 18 are provided quality education in an "after school" library like setting.  The center is to be filled with books, learning materials and carefully monitored by a community leader who works with H4HC.  Students will be provided  with their own electronic tablet (Learn Kernel) on which the Hope for Honduran Children Foundation (H4HC) has downloaded grade appropriate class material (math, Spanish, science, English, etc.).The Learn Kernel is a new, simple and affordable audio-visual device made specifically for distribution in rural areas where the vulnerable population has no access to the internet and receives little to no education.  Learn Kernel works by transferring encrypted video files on to Learn Kernel tablets via USB. New class content is provided by H4HC as needed. Students are encouraged to share the tablets at home with their families and review the lessons until the material is fully comprehended. This process also inspires and motivates the teachers who monitor quizzes before new content is downloaded. We are confident that this program will be a game changer for the education of underserved children of Honduras and in the long term, other parts of the world.

In Honduras, over 5 million people live in remote mountain villages. They have no jobs, no internet, no paved roads, no running water, no electricity and no hope for a better future. Most adults are unemployed. There is very little access to health care and a substandard education available only through sixth grade. The statistics are shocking: 

• Two in ten rural Hondurans are illiterate
• 63% of the Honduran labor force has only a primary education and if employed, they are severely underpaid 
• 81% of the Honduran labor force is concentrated in the agriculture or manufacturing sectors.
• 27% of Honduran youth neither study nor work, and 39% only work but do not study. 

We began our pilot program in the San Juan del Rancho School for 100 students and 6 teachers. We engaged via zoom with the  school’s administration and teachers to introduce the concept, discuss functionality and ask their input. Teachers provided a list of the government required content to be included. H4HC carefully researched academic videos in the Spanish language for grade levels  5 – 9 in math, Spanish language, science and English. Additional grades and subject matter will be added in 2022.  Karen Godt and the Honduran Director of our foundation are in weekly, often daily, contact with the teachers and administration of the San Juan del Rancho School. Now in 2022 we have expanded our reach to include an additional 300 students in several communities.  A strategically located Learning Center can serve another community of over 600.

“In addition to being a core element in human capital, the educational landscape forms a basis for the composition of the country’s labor force. For one, as the young population enters the funnel of education, they enter the labor force with weak training, both in level and quality of education attained. In turn, adults participate in the labor market with limited knowledge and skills. Therefore, the labor force lacks the skills needed to access high-quality jobs and reduce inequality. Moreover, with few science and technology degrees, the labor force is unfit to compete in the global economy and promote innovation.”  Per publication of Manuel Orozco and Marcela Valdivia - www.thedialogue.org

Hope for Honduran Children (H4HC) has witnessed in the students of its Residential Program how lives are dramatically transformed by education. We have many student success stories but we are faced with the formidable challenge of doing a lot more. The Learning Center is our solution.

• It provides rural children with an easy access to education
• It provides a quality education that is fun and exciting
• It can be shared with the student's entire family and friends 
• It serves to stimulate curiosity 
• Students who are able to attend school are no longer be dependent solely on one untrained teacher 
• It opens the doors of knowledge to the population living in rural isolation
• It encourages continued learning
• Eventually these students will become employable, find jobs and have a positive impact on their families, villages and ultimately the economy of Honduras.

 After more than 18 years, working and building countless relationships in Honduras, we clearly understand the culture and needs of the people. Due to the shocking poverty, lack of accountability, and absence of infrastructure the needs are almost endless.

We work to transform the lives of the underserved rural population. In  addition to working with our two student residential homes, in 2015 we created the Feed A Village program through which we nurture the mind, body and spirit of the population in six remote villages. MOST ARE a  2-3 HOUR DRIVE FROM TEGUCIGALPA.  We use our knowledge, energy and resources to instill the desire and provide the tools for underserved youth to become self-sufficient, caring, and responsible adults. We visit the villages five times annually with our Honduran director, a group of Honduran students from our residential program, and a team of 20+ volunteers. We have become one cohesive and passionate family with each community. Our residential program has 24 students who were “rescued” from these or similar villages. We are known and respected in the communities and understand the needs of each village. Our resident students have lived it.  During our visits we listen carefully to the village leaders, asses the needs of the community, and deliver food, supplies, and medical care. Volunteers introduce new ideas, teach classes, shares their specific skills, and spend time mentoring the children. Hope for Honduran Children has a successful track record of developing and sustaining innovative programs focused on education. We are confident that we are well-positioned to deliver the Learning Center solution for rural children. 

In Honduras, the same story repeats itself year after year.

Over 70% of the rural population live in extreme poverty, isolation, and fear.  They have few public services, rampant unemployment, and the worst education system in Central America. Our solution is innovative not only in that we are introducing a new technology but it is extremely innovative in what we are doing.  The Learning Center solution provides an innovative method of education that enables the rural population easy access to a good learning environment which ultimately will empower them to escape their impoverished living conditions.

The Learn Kernel tablets are a key component in providing this innovative approach to educating vulnerable children and adults.  There is no internet access in impoverished rural villages but with these tablets, no internet is needed. H4HC follows the curriculum mandated by the Honduran government and provides exciting classroom videos that will further enhance a student’s knowledge and capabilities. The program is administered, mentored and monitored by teachers and community leaders. Students are encouraged to share the lessons at home with their families and are no longer solely dependent on one teacher, simultaneously teaching six grades  in a single room with very limited supplies. 

In most developing countries there is a critical deficit in educational resources and little promise of change. With the Learning Center solution, rural populations can finally receive the quality education needed to enhance and sustain a well-developed economy. Our hope is that the program  will eventually expand globally, teaching critical medical information, entrepreneurship, agricultural technology and facilitating government communications. 

Our goal is to impact the lives of at least 2000 impoverished students over the next five years by providing them the opportunity to learn and strive for a meaningful future. 

We are creating the Learn Centers in rural communities where H4HC already has a presence. We work with teachers and community leaders while providing books, educational materials and learning tablets for each student on which we downloaded enhanced academics. We make learning easy, exciting and fun. We hope to stimulate curiosity and motivate students to learn more. Expansion is thoughtfully planned with the communities, their leaders and teachers.

The learning experience is vastly improved through this "after school" program. Children will have access to books, creative and educational materials, and have their personal Learn Kernel device which enables them to review lessons repeatedly and encourages them to share the material with their families. At long last, students will be able to continue their education beyond sixth grade.

After 18+ years of working in Honduras, we have significant relationships with many mountain villages who are very eager to be part of this program. We will be soliciting funding support through our large and effective donor base, fundraisers, and various grants. 

Our long term goal is to provide a transformational impact for the underserved villages of Honduras, Central America and beyond. This program is easily replicable. Without education transformation cannot occur. The impact of poor education is staggering. Consequently, the impact of our work will be extremely powerful. Ultimately the illiteracy rate will decline, with new found knowledge and skills, the rural population will become employable, and eventually Honduras will be able to compete in a globalized economy. Education is a vital tool in building human capital and endowing a country’s workforce with the necessary skills to compete in a globalized economy.  

Covid continues in Honduras and most rural schools remain closed. Without cell or internet reception, remote learning is impossible. H4HC measures the program's progress with weekly conversations with the teachers. Before beginning the pilot and each subsequent year, students are tested to determine the academic baseline. Teachers later meet with their students and distributed the tablets with clear and careful instructions. Assignments and tests are used to monitor each students progress and expectations must be met. We also monitor the time spent on the Learn Kernel tablet, how many family members use it, and the ease, problems and functionality of the LK device. The opinions of teachers and students are critical. They are challenged to succeed and understand that success will be rewarded.

Learn Kernel was created so that all underserved populations could receive the same access to information, improve their knowledge and ultimately develop a more sustainable society.

Learn Kernel collects data metrics regarding tablet functionality, client metrics, regional function and demographics. We use the metrics listed as indicators on the UN sustainable development goals for 2030. LK is created to fit well within the UN sustainability goals and you may see our page dedicated to it on our website www.learnkernel.com/goals . Some of the indicators that we align with are reduced inequality, no poverty, gender equality, quality education and more.

Learn Kernel has worked with educational and agricultural systems. It can also work in medical systems to provide information such as sanitation, entrepreneurship and governmental information for dissemination.

Hope for Honduran Children talks to the communities regularly and visits often with teams of volunteers.

Year after year, a bleak education or complete lack thereof, continues to ignore the poor of Honduras, allowing them no escape from their deplorable poverty.  

The Center for Economic and Policy Research reports Honduras as the country with the most unequal distribution of income with the wealth controlled by few families and national assets treated as personal patrimony. And, as reported by the Borgen Project, Honduras is the second poorest and most violent country of the Americas.  Unemployment is rampant. 70% of its rural population live in poverty, isolation, and fear. There are few public services and the education system is the worst in Central America. 

The government provides substandard education through grade six and little access for further education. The Learning Center program provides a solution to this age old problem in Honduras.  Our goal is to create after school learning environments for underserved rural children - libraries with abundant materials, books, volunteer teachers, and electronic tablets on which meaningful class lessons have been downloaded. 

Innovation and technology are foreign to impoverished populations. The program, which offers vastly improved academics,  must be introduced slowly and carefully. In 2021 we impacted 100 children and an additional 250 this year. The learning environment, as with Sesame Street,  must be exciting, fun, and inspirational. It also offers the opportunity for continued education.

We want to motivate the children to be curious, enjoy learning, and continue their educations so that in the long term, the rural population will overcome illiteracy, gain confidence, competency, knowledge and the necessary skills for gainful employment. As the Learning Center's reputation grows we will move into other Honduran regions.

A good education is key to sustainable societal change. We witness transformational change in the students in our residential program who we mentor and educate beginning at age 12 through completion of university and gainful employment. The success of our graduates validates our hard work and countless families ask to have their children admitted. However, it is a very costly 12 year process.

The Learning Centers help transform lives in rural Honduras and provide an escape from their impoverished living condition. Eventually it will impact the economic landscape of all Honduras. 

The technological component of our solution employs the use of Learn Kernel (LK), a new, simple and affordable application of video and audio technology developed for distribution in rural areas where vulnerable populations have a serious lack of education and no access to the internet. LK, a tablet-like device, makes access to information available in remote areas and solves the issues caused by: lack of internet, the educational divide and affordability of education.

 In addition to books and other educational supplies, Hope for Honduran Children (H4HC)  provides academic videos loaded in an encrypted video format on to the LK tablets via USB. The technology is also chargeable by USB. Once the videos are loaded, the LK  tablet will play them automatically. The tablets have chapter control to navigate the lessons provided by H4HC. 

The LK Navigator features 3 buttons: Chapter Selection, Rewind and Pause/Play. The LK was designed so as to be pocket portable for ease of use.      

Learn Kernel,  employs technology that is currently available and that has been proven to work. Pilot Programs have been implemented in different geographic areas where the devices are adapted to the needs of the specific region. It is currently being used in Honduras, Kenya, the Philippines and India.

One such pilot program ran in East Africa in collaboration with the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) : 

Dr. Saliou Niassy for ICIPE Scientific Research Institute

 “We have been working together with Learn Kernel on this exciting technology for the Push-Pull and are in the process to expand it and incubate some start ups here at ICIPE.  The Push-Pull technology has been implemented with farmers to help train them into new techniques to combat the Fall Army Worm crises for the maze crop in East Africa”

 Please see the attached article from HLA and the Learn Kernel Demo Reel: 

https://www.humanitarianlogistics.org/learn-kernel-innovation-with-skylife-global/

We regard ourselves as ambassadors of diversity, equality and inclusion. We strive to create a caring environment in which everyone feels valued and respected, both those on our volunteer teams and all the people we serve throughout Honduras. We are role models and mentors and many of our staff and assistants are from underserved areas. We teach classes and mentor students on issues of equality, inclusion and gender based violence. We work with residents of the local center for the blind. The Hope for Honduran Children Foundation is an equal opportunity employer, supporter of impoverished Honduran families, and recruiter of service volunteers. We make hiring, support and humanitarian excursion decisions without regard to race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation or gender identity. We practice this policy in our decisions related to hiring, internships, participation and volunteering for any and all of our programs. We serve males, females and those who identify differently and members of the LGBTQ community. We serve families of indigenous tribes such as the Lenca, Maya, and Chorti. We serve all religions as well as non-believers. We have zero tolerance for discriminatory behavior of any kind or in any situation related to our programs. This policy applies to the work we do in Honduras and to the groups of volunteers who work and travel with us.  

Poverty, lack of opportunity, and violence cause a struggle for survival in Honduras. Most at risk are innocent youth migrating to cities searching for “opportunity”. They are faced with hunger, unemployment, disease, and gangs specializing in trafficking, killings, kidnappings, etc. A recent UN Study on Homicides advocates investment in education for this vulnerable population. Our mission is to protect, inspire, educate and provide opportunities for underserved youth. 

H4HC Feed A Village Program provides medical attention, educational supplies, new ideas, clothing and food to 6 villages (5 in Eastern Honduras). Volunteers fundraise and dedicate a minimum of $6000 yearly for 36 rural high school scholarships, food and school supplies. Visits to the villages are frequent. At first there were no books, paper, or pencils in the schools. The children did not know of the USA. Today, some of those children are part of our residential program and attending the university. 

The H4HC Learning Club - Learn Center Pilot Program provides education and opportunities to 350 children in San Juan del Rancho, Naguara and Suyatillo villages. We plan to expand as soon as possible to the village of Zuzural.

Residential Homes for 24 students who demonstrated potential but joined our program with the academic tank on empty. Today, 2 are in 8th grade, 7 attend high school, the majority attend the university with 2 studying for their Masters (one in the USA).

Our revenue stream is diverse with 18+ years of proven success. It includes:  Donors  -  Appeals  -  Sponsorships – Fundraisers  -  Auctions  - Trips  - Grants

We inspire, motivate, educate and create opportunities for the “ultra poor” living in extreme isolation, poverty and fear. Our innovative ideas do produce real results and our impact is palpable.

The Hope for Honduran Children Foundation relies heavily on its board and its extensive base of dedicated volunteers. Each year, even during Covid,  the foundation has secured the necessary $200,000+ to sustain each of its programs. 

Hope for Honduran Children Programs

• Two residential homes – providing food, clothing, shelter, educational and medical needs
• Scholarships for 24 residential high school & university students
• Scholarship for one student to obtain his MBA in Cleveland, Ohio
• Scholarships for 36 non residential students
• Feed A Village Program 
• A computer Lab
• Sewing Center
• The Learning Club 
• Learning Centers

As with all our programs, we plan on funding this program, particularly in the early years with:

• Volunteer fundraisers
• Live and virtual auctions
• Challenge appeals
• Sustained donations from donors
• Sponsorship programs
• Making the program available to other NGOs working in Honduras to purchase
• Grant solicitations.

We find that donors are very willing to support programs that have potential and/or proven results. Moreover, they find it persuasive that our foundation has proven and sustained success with each of its five programs. The foundation always seeks new external partnerships and grant opportunities.

Volunteers from  Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, and throughout the USA implement their own multiple fundraisers creating a large and reliable resource stream.  In May of 2021 we initiated a small trial appeal for the this program and in less than a month received substantial pledges. 

By late December of 2021 we raised over $12,000 for the needed funding to expand the program. This was accomplished through our network of very effective volunteer appeals and auctions,  covering all expenses for an additional 350 LK tablets.  We  we will continue raising funds via our volunteer base but also commence soliciting both corporate sponsors and significant grant support for the students in years to follow 

2021 - 2022.      $ 16,000 raised to educate 350 students   

2022 - 2023       $36,000. Amount to raise to create a Learning Center and educate 550 students in the isolated village of Zuzural. 

• $17,600  for 550 devices for the children
• $1400      for books and supplies
•  $16,000   materials for the community to build the Center
• $1000       Salary for services of local team leaders   

2023 - 2024  To raise $36,000 to educate another community of 550 students.  

2024 - 2025  To raise $36,000 to educate another 550 students

H4HC expects to raise $108,000 to educate a minimum of 2000 additional rural children/youth over the next five years. The total investment  (including 2021/2022) should not exceed $124,000 for a total of 2000 students in five years ($62 per student)  after which the program will be solidly launched and easily replicable.